Dawn Redwood

The Benenson Ornamental Conifers at The New York Botanical Garden feature a grove of dawn-redwoods grown from seed obtained in 1948, the first year this living fossil was available outside of China, where it had been discovered only a few years before. A close relative of bald-cypress, dawn-redwood is a deciduous conifer and loses its needles each autumn. The straight, thick trunks of dawn redwoods support a regular framework of slender branches. The trunks become deeply fluted over time as the lower branches are shaded out by the dense canopy, creating a wonderful architectural effect.